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Areas of Work

High Level Policy Engagement

Complementing its work on specific themes and countries, QUNO also engages in broader policy debates on the shape and future of peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict at the UN. QUNO frequently works with leaders in peacebuilding practice around the world to bring their experience to inform UN policymaking. QUNO is often asked to speak at both public and informal events, and will also occasionally comment publicly on subjects of particular importance to Friends.

Ongoing Activities

QUNO partners with a wide network of peacebuilding practitioners and think tanks around the world, bringing their expertise to inform UN debate. Combining practitioner experience with the perspectives of local voices from conflict-affected communities helps to broaden the discussion at the UN and root it in the reality of the lives of those affected by violence.

QUNO is a founding member of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (GPP), together with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), and Interpeace. The platform aims to build bridges between International Geneva, the United Nations peacebuilding architecture in New York, and peacebuilding activities in the field. It facilitates interaction on peacebuilding between different institutions and sectors, and seeks to advance new knowledge and understanding of peacebuilding issues and contexts.

From time to time, QUNO engages with emerging issues and situations where its constituents are looking for information and insight on UN perspectives. For example, QUNO New York has followed the bid for Palestinian Statehood at the UN and has issued various resources on the topic.

Recent Timeline Events

Our new, May 2015 edition of QUNO Review is now available for download below. The publication provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our way of working, as well as an overview of each of our programme areas. Learn more about our past year of our work and see where we are headed in 2015.

The Quaker United Nations Office in New York, in association with Ambassador Sofia Borges, Timor Leste, and Ambassador Vandi Minah, Sierra Leone, co-hosted a reception at Quaker House on 10 March for member state delegates and senior representatives of peacebuilding policy organizations from around the world.

In a well-attended event, conversations touched upon the number of key processes and conversations that will occupy the United Nations community this year, and that will have an impact on the policy environment for peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict for the next decade or more. These topics included the reviews of UN Peace Operations, the UN Peacebuilding Architecture and UNSCR 1325, as well as the broader consideration of peace and justice issues within the post-2015 agenda.

Related Areas of Work

In January QUNO hosted an informal civil society strategy session on Goal 16 and the role of related peace issues in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After many years of inputs, from a variety of different sources and streams, the process to replace the Millennium Development Goals with the transformative SDG framework enters its final stages.

Civil Society representatives in New York and by phone from London and Washington were joined by selected member state representatives and UN officials. The session took stock of the conversation to date, reviewed the Secretary General's December 2014 synthesis report specifically from a peace perspective and considered potential points of entry for the coming year.